Starter Pokemon, Release Date Revealed for Pokemon Sun and Moon

[Lizzy Finnegan]

Starter Pokemon, Release Date Revealed for Pokemon Sun and Moon


In a video today, the release date, starter Pokemon, and box art were revealed for upcoming Pokemon Sun and Moon.

In a video today, the three starter Pokemon for Pokemon Sun and Moon were unveiled: Rowlet, Litten, and Popplio. Rowlet is a grass/flying type owl with a bow tie made out of leaves, Litten is a fiery kitten, and Popplio is a water-type seal pup. You can check out their descriptions from the official website [http://www.pokemon-sunmoon.com/en-us/pokemon/] below. In addition to unveiling the trio of starters, the video also confirmed a release date for the games: November 18 in North America, November 23 in Europe.

The video also gives a brief look at the gameplay - as well as the game's cover stars.

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And now, more on your starters:

Rowlet: "Rowlet can attack without making a sound! It flies silently through the skies, drawing near to its opponent without being noticed, and then lashing out with powerful kicks. It can also attack from a distance using the razor-sharp leaves that form part of its feathers."

"Its visual abilities are impressive. The darkness of night is no obstacle to Rowlet! It can twist its neck nearly 180? from front to back so it can see directly behind itself. It has a habit of turning its head in battle to face its Trainer and receive instructions."

"The move Leafage attacks an opponent by striking it with leaves. Rowlet knows this move from the moment it becomes your partner!"

Litten: "Litten can attack with flaming hairballs! Its fur is rich in oils and immensely flammable. Litten grooms itself by licking its fur, and then uses the collected fur as fuel for fireball attacks!"

"When the time comes for Litten to shed its old fur, it all burns up in a glorious blaze."

"The move Ember attacks an opponent by firing a small flame at it. Litten knows this move from the moment it becomes your partner!"

Popplio: "Popplio can snort out balloons made of water! Watch it spin water balloons into a playful battle strategy!'

"Both frivolous and hard-working, Popplio can easily get carried away-unleashing enough power in battle to make quite a spectacle! But Popplio's determined spirit means it can usually be found practicing hard on its balloon skills.'

"The Water Gun move attacks an opponent by firing a jet of water. Popplio knows this move from the moment it becomes your partner!"

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[GTMippey]

Popplio/Sun for me.

Looking good, but this time around I'm really hoping for some more advanced multiplayer options. It would be cool to see exactly where your friends are running around at any given time and interact with their avatars to trade and battle, join up as a team to do double battles etc, as well as the PSS or whatever it was called. The game world always felt a bit stale in that regard.

 

[Fractral]

Another generation where they make it easy for me to choose a starter. Litten is the only one that doesn't look completely stupid.

I might be mistaken but I think I saw the player characters wearing different things, so might they be bringing back Trainer Customization? That would be fantastic; it was one of the best bits if X&Y. I'm excited to see what new things they bring with this generation but let's be real. It's a pokemon game, so I'm going to buy it on release and enjoy the hell out of it.

 

[Story]

I can't get over how pretty this game looks.
Also those are some of the cutest starters I've seen in a long time. That owl like, wow I wanna hug it.

 

[Micah Weil]

Well, Rowlet it is.
Also digging the fact that it appears we're going to be in Poke-polynesia this time around. Loving the aesthetic of the region.

 

[Eric the Orange]

I am torn between Fire Cat and Wood owl.

 

[GothmogII]

Those descriptions don't sound particularly appealing. Hocking up fireballs? Snorting bubbles? Litten's expression matches my own.

I like Rowlet personally, hoping he evolves into some kind of large hawk or barn owl. :3

 

[Kingjackl]

HHNNRRGH THEY'RE ALL SO CUTE i want the seal he' just darling.

That said, isn't this like the second owl, third seal and fourth cat (at least)? Still waiting for them to cave and do Pokemon: Australian wildlife edition.

 

[Buizel91]

HHNNRRGH THEY'RE ALL SO CUTE i want the seal he' just darling.

That said, isn't this like the second owl, third seal and fourth cat (at least)? Still waiting for them to cave and do Pokemon: Australian wildlife edition.

All different types though and all have different play styles. If this was the 3rd firecat or Grass owl i'd be on board with you.

the Seal is a bit meh but he looks different enough and his evolution will hopefully be great.

 

[soren7550]

As of right now, I can't say that I'm really feeling any of the new Pokes, save for maybe the Sun mascot. But, we'll see when they show of more new ones, especially the evos of the starters.

 

[Diablo2000]

Those are officially my least favorite set of staters, though I think is best to wait for the fully evolved form before I make a decidion. Rowlet is the only one who looks alright, but then I remember how Fennekin was the only one who looked alright at first when X\Y was revealed and it's final form was the worst looking one out of all three staters in that game. Same for Snivy in Black and White.
And those legendaries are way too much Digimon-like this time around, still loved the freaking Lion and will get Pokemon Sun for him alone.

 

[The Great JT]

Holy crap, yes. Game Freak, here is my money, help yourself.

I really like the look of the game world, and I'm hoping that the Trainer Customization has made a return and been improved. I'm probably going to get Moon and Litten, though I'm still going to keep an eye on what the version exclusives. I am NOT getting screwed over again! My favorites always end up being in the one I don't get!

 

[Saelune]

I guess all the quality for water starters was used on Squirtle and there was never any left.

I think Gen 4's starters are now not the worst. I hope Rowlet's evolved forms are cool though. I like owls.

Also tired of tropical. I personally don't like tropical, plus we just had ORAS, so more palms and beaches is unfortunate.

I hope that the rest of the pokemon are actually good. I don't think we need anything worse than Klefki and Trubbish. They suggested they were going back to simpler designs, but so far that seems a lie.

 

[Eclipse Dragon]

Hmm first impression, I like the water starter the least this gen, but that doesn't mean it can't evolve into something awesome. I felt the exact same way with Froakie and Oshawott. Based off of this, I'm leaning toward Litten or Rowlet, but that could all change once I see final forms.

Given the region is tropical though, it would probably be best not to go with the water starter because there will be ample opportunity to catch water Pokemon.

Solgaleo looks awesome, but stole Pyroar's gimmick. Lunaala doesn't look as cool, it's design looks kind of alien, but it's growing on me and I might go with Moon because I have a feeling the majority will go with Sun.

Spoiler

I have a hard time imagining how this creature moves around.
Bats have back legs and even it's front legs don't look all that functional...

 

[rosac]

I guess all the quality for water starters was used on Squirtle and there was never any left.

I think Gen 4's starters are now not the worst. I hope Rowlet's evolved forms are cool though. I like owls.

Also tired of tropical. I personally don't like tropical, plus we just had ORAS, so more palms and beaches is unfortunate.

I hope that the rest of the pokemon are actually good. I don't think we need anything worse than Klefki and Trubbish. They suggested they were going back to simpler designs, but so far that seems a lie.

whoa whoa whoa there mister, feraligatr was easily my favourite of gen 2 because he looks like he's gonna mess you up. Typholsions was a rat with a fire collar *yawn*

but of course art is subjective and I was just being a prat.

Onto O- I love love love the visuals and region so far, and the legendaries look sweet, especially the moon legendary powering up his/her lazor. I get the impression this games gimmick will be to do with the time of day though which could get frustrating.

 

[Floppertje]

And people say call of duty is always more of the same. Gamefreak have been releasing the same game for 20 years now. Sure, they make it prettier and add some more mons but that doesn't change the gameplay at all. You can't tell me the idea of real-time battles hasn't occured to them, so why not make the same game but with instanced real time battles? It seems weird to keep the gameplay constricted within the same hardware limitations from 20 years ago.

 

[Aeshi]

The part that astonished me the most was the fact that Rowlet is Grass/Flying. I don't think we've had a starter that's dual-type right from the get go since Bulbasaur (and you could debate if that actually counts, because I'm fairly certain it wasn't dual-typed back when it was a starter.)

 

[Eric the Orange]

And people say call of duty is always more of the same. Gamefreak have been releasing the same game for 20 years now. Sure, they make it prettier and add some more mons but that doesn't change the gameplay at all. You can't tell me the idea of real-time battles hasn't occured to them, so why not make the same game but with instanced real time battles? It seems weird to keep the gameplay constricted within the same hardware limitations from 20 years ago.

And why is turn based battles bad?

 

[Elfgore]

Starters look like complete shit. I might actually do the fire starter for my first playthrough, which is something I haven't done in in years for my first playthrough. Seriously, I've seen fan made Pokemon a hundred times more cooler than the options we've been given.

I'm shooting for Moon too. I prefer the look of Sun, but that one will most likely be the most bought. So I could easily get it via trading.

 

[Floppertje]

And people say call of duty is always more of the same. Gamefreak have been releasing the same game for 20 years now. Sure, they make it prettier and add some more mons but that doesn't change the gameplay at all. You can't tell me the idea of real-time battles hasn't occured to them, so why not make the same game but with instanced real time battles? It seems weird to keep the gameplay constricted within the same hardware limitations from 20 years ago.

And why is turn based battles bad?

Turn based combat isn't really bad per s? (I play a lot of tabletop wargames and turn based rts, I have no problem with the concept) but the way pokemon does it is kind of boring, you can have the exact same tactical options in real time and also make it a little skill based. What's more, the problem isn't that they have turn based battles, it's that they've had the exact SAME battles for 20 years. They just seem to keep adding more of the same stuff.
For example, they now have I don't know how many new pokemon, and almost double the amount of types. But you are still limited to 6 pokemon in your party. Similarly, they keep adding new obstacles that require an HM (flash, cut, surf, dive, waterfall, rock smash, strenght etc), but you are still limited to 4 moves. These games have just been getting more and more stuffed with the same things, but ironically they have done very little to actually evolve.